General view of the second court at Washingtonplatz in front of the Central Station

Berlin, Germany, June 18,
2014 - The second day of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smart
Grand Slam was an upsetting day for German fans and players.

Top seeded Katrin
Holtwick and Ilka Semmler lost both of their pool matches on Wednesday and have
no chance of reaching the knockout phase anymore.

Three more German teams in the
women’s main draw, Laboureur/Sude, Mersmann/Schneider and Bieneck/Grossner, also lost twice, but in theory they can still reach the first elimination round if
they win their third pool match on Thursday. The only team that kept the German hopes up, was Borger/Buthe with two wins.

In the men’s qualification
there was no luck for German teams Dittelbach/Koreng and Armin
Dollinger/Wickler either. They did not make it to main draw.

Last year’s
champions Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima from Brazil stayed on track with two
straight wins. So did other title candidates April Ross and Kerri Walsh, who won the Moscow Grand Slam last week, and European champions Marleen van Iersel and Madelein Meppelink.

Berlin Grand Slam ends for
home team Holtwick/Semmler

After only one day, the FIVB
World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam has already ended for top seeded home team
Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler.

The German pair lost twice on the first day of main draw on Wednesday and due
to the other results in the pool, has no chance to reach the knockout phase
anymore. For the second week in a row Holtwick and Semmler will finish last in
their pool. Read
more

Tough opening match for 2013
champions Talita/Lima in Berlin

Last year’s champions Talita
Antunes and Taiana Lima were pushed hard in their opening match of the FIVB
World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam on Wednesday.

They eventually defeated their fellow Brazilians Maria Antonelli and Juliana
Felisberta 2-0 (26-24 23-21) in an entertaining match with lots of rallies, but
it could have easily gone the other way. Read
more

Brazil’s Bruno/Alison pushed
hard in Berlin qualification

Brazil’s Bruno Oscar Schmidt
and Alison Cerutti were pushed hard in qualification on Wednesday, but reached
the main draw of the FIVB World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam anyway.

The top seeded qualification team had a bye in the first qualification round,
but their Dutch opponents in the second were not about to give them a free pass
into main draw. Read
more

The FIVB World Tour Berlin smart
Grand Slam continues on Thursday with the final pool matches in the women’s
tournament, while the men play their first two round robin matches.

Berlin is hosting a women’s
FIVB World Tour event for the 9th time and a men’s event for the 15th time.
After two years in the outskirts of the city, the $800,000 Berlin smart Grand
Slam has returned to the city centre.

The centre court and second
court are on Washingtonplatz in the government district. The three other courts
are at Beach Mitte, a beach volleyball club close by.

After Berlin the FIVB World
Tour will move to Norway, for the Stavanger Grand Slam (June 24-28).